Variable gear for sawmills



(No Model.)

J; T.0BERDORPER. VARIABLE GEAR FOR sAWMILLs.

Patented 001;. 9, 1894.

A TTOHNEYS.

UNITEDy NSTATES PATENT OEEICE.

JACOB T. OBERDORFER, OFDELMOUNT, OHIO.,

VARIABLE GEAR `FOR SAWMIl-LS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 527,343, dated October 9, 1894. Application filed January 15,1894. Serial No. 496,925 (No model.)

\ driving gears for saw mill carriages and par ticularly to that class of gears having variable speed.

The object of my invention is to produce a strong, cheap, simple and easily operated mechanism which is controlled by a single lever, and by which a saw mill carriage may be driven in either direction, its speed perfectly controlled, or the apparatus thrown out of gear, as desired.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed. l

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a plan view of the gear embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l, showing also a portion of the carriage. Fig. 3 is a broken front elevation of the lever and its accessories by which the feed is controlled; and Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view, on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, illustrating the means for raising the friction disk.

The millis provided with the usual rigid frame 10, in which the saw mandrel l1 is hung, this mandrel carrying the ordinary circular saw 12 Which revolves next the carriage 13, the carriage being of any approved kind and running on trucks 14 which are mounted on a track 15, the carriage having also the customary longitudinal rack 16 which is driven by the revolution of a pinion 17 with which the rack meshes, and the pinion is "carried bya shaft 18 journaled in suitable bearings in the frame and provided with a driving gear Wheel 19, which meshes with a pinion 2O on a countershaft 21, this shaft being journaled in the base of a supplemental frame 22 on the top of the main frame l0 and having secured to it, in the usual way so as to slide on it and turn with it,afriction pulley 23 'adapted to be rotated by contact with a horizontally revolvingfriction disk 24 which is carried at the lower end of a vertically movable and revoluble shaft 25 in the frame 22, the shaft being driven as hereinafter specified.

The friction disk 24 has a hat, lower surface to contact with the friction pulley 23, and it has on its under side acircumferential rim 26 which protects its bearing face and prevents it from getting wet or dirty.

The shaft 25 is movable vertically in its bearings and is provided With a pulley 27, which is driven by a belt 28 extending from said pulley to another pulley 29 on the saw mandrelll. The'friction pulley 23 is slidable on its shaft and is moved by a fork 3l which engages the grooved hub 30 of the pulley, the fork extending substantially parallel with the shaft 21 and having its outer end pivoted to a tilting lever 32 which is fulcrumed, near the center, on a lug 33, or an equivalent support (see Fig. 2), and the other end of the leverl is pivoted to a connecting rod 34 which extends in front of the main frame 10 and is pivoted to the lower end of the controlling lever 35, which is fulcrumed, as shown at 3G, on a shaft 37, this being preferably supported in suitable brackets 38 on the front of the frame 10, and thus the lever 35 may be turned in one direction on itsiulcrum 36 or swung at right angles to the said direction by turning the shaft 37.

On the shaft 37, opposite the lever 35, is the ordinary notched quadrant 39, and the lever has the customary hand latch 40 to lock` it in engagement with the quadrant and so hold it in the desired position, but this mechanism is not shown in detail, as no novelty is claimed for it.

The shaft 37 is provided with a crank 41 on which rides the bent end 42 of a lever 43, which loosely embracesthe shaft 25 below a flange 44 on Vthe shaft, and is fulcrumed at its rear end, as shown at 45, on the frame 10. t

It will be seen then that by swinging the lever 35 to the right or left, the lever 32is tilted so as to slide the pulley 23 on the shaft `21 and the pulley may thus be brought into the desired position in relation to the friction disk 24 and may also be driven at any de- IOO ' sired speed and in either direction, the speed and direction depending, of course, upon the nearne'ss of the pulley to the circumference of the disk and its position on either side of the center of the disk.

The revolution of the pulley 23 turns the shaft 21, which, by its gear connection, revolves the shaft 18 and pinion 17 so as to drive the carriage 13. If the apparatus isto be thrown entirely out of gear, the lever 35 is swung so as to tilt the shaft 37 and this swings the crank 41 against the lever 43, thus raising the lever and lifting the shaft 25 and disk 24 so as to hold the latter out of contact with the friction pulley.

I do not confine myself to the' particular arrangement of the controlling lever and itsaccessories, as itis obvious that thev lever may be connected with the pulley and disk in other ways so as to move them, in the manner specified, Without departing from the 'principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The combination witha vertically movable shaft, the friction disk thereon, the counterv shaft beneath the vertical shaft and the sliding pulley on the counter shaft to engage the disk, of the oscillating horizontal shaft journaled in the fralne of the machine, the notched quadrant carried by said oscillating shaft, the lever fulcrumed on the oscillating shaft and adapted to be held in engagement with the notched quadrant, an operative connection between the lever and the pulley to slide the pulley, a lever connected with the vertical shaft to lift the same and a crank on the oscillating shaft on which the end of said lever rides, substantially as described.

JACOB T. OBERDORFER. Witnesses:

A. M. BEERY, JAMES A. TOBIN.- 

